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'Regardless of Risk' - My Motoring Days in Classic Cars

In Napoleonic mode at the Castle at Liw, Poland, on the former Lithuanian frontier 1993
1975 Rolls-Royce Silver Shadow
This great and underestimated touring car was featured in the adventurous cultural and motoring rally around Poland I participated in the summer of 1993. I recounted the saga in one chapter of my bookA Country in the Moon: Travels in Search of the Heart of Poland (Granta, London 2009)

The castle of the Dukes of Mazovia dates from 1420 and on the right the small baroque country house (now a museum) was added in 1780. The adjacent water meadows are delightfully picturesque.

I have now owned this car for 30 years

In Palmiry Forest near Warsaw, summer pic-nic 2012
1949 MG TC

In more tragic times this forest was the Polish and Jewish killing field for the Nazis just outside Warsaw . Many brilliant Polish and Jewish middle-class professionals, sportsmen, engineers and priests were executed here. It is hard to expunge the historical horror of it imprinted on the air, niggling away when simply on an innocent summer pic-nic in peacetime. A large war cemetery and harrowing museum are nearby. One must move forward yet not forget.

Rev Counter on the 1949 MG TC
Note the Apple Green Rexine dash covering, carefully matched to the leather upholstery by the Collingburn brothers- all correctly in period for the 1949 model

MG TC - period company promotional photograph somewhere in an England that scarcely exists today

It is unlikely many of you who read my classical music blog also share my passion for classic cars, but I have recently begun writing for a new, rather glamorous, Polish, large format quarterly car magazine called 'RAMP'.

The first article they asked for was about my life with classic cars - a tall order. I entitled it 'Regardless of Risk' - the risks were mainly financial I might add.

I will not burden my blog with what is probably a minority interest compared to the music of Chopin but if you would like to read about this subject and see some excellent photographs of a 1949 concours MG TC in action click on:

A chance to 'discover' another work by the once famous Polish composer,
Aleksander Tansman (1897-1986), once considered as important as Szymanowski. The
magnificent violin concerto we heard earlier in the festival cemented him in my
mind as an outstanding composer inexplicably rather overlooked in the West at
least by popular opinion. The cultural iron curtain perhaps operating as a psychological
and prejudicial barrier once again. Tansman was a distinguished Polish composer
born in Łódz and a virtuoso pianist. After further studies in Warsaw he moved
to Paris where his less than conservative composing style was appreciated by Stravinsky
and Ravel. He also had a highly successful concert career as a pi…

SATURDAY, AUGUST 11CHOPIN'S MANOR 8.00 PMPiano RecitalSERGEI BABAYANThis distinguished musician and pianist requires little introduction. He has appeared at the most famous international music festivals with all the great orchestras of the world under the most renowned conductors, at the finest music venues as well as having been awarded most of the glittering prizes. For me his most outstanding claim to fame is his close relationship with the composer and pianist Daniil Trifonov as teacher, guide, philosopher and friend.

I was unfortunately unable to attend this recital and recordings of it are unavailable.SATURDAY, AUGUST 11 CHOPIN’S MANOR 4:00 PM Piano recital ERIC LU For
such a young man Eric Lu has achieved great things which …

Initially I think it interesting and instructive to briefly examine the rather exotic Polish-Turkish relations of the past. You may have already read this on a previous post but it remains extremely relevant and you may have already come across it.

Over the centuries this fascinating and involved subject has had a profound influence on Polish history. This was especially true in the 17th century at the spectacular Siege and subsequent Battle of Vienna (12th September 1683) that witnessed the victory of the Polish Husaria or Winged Cavalry under the command of King Jan Sobieski over the vastly superior military forces of the Ottoman Empire under the Grand Vizier Merzifonlu Kara Mustafa Pasha. Historic relations between the two countries were initiated around 1414 with a Polish mission to the Ottoman Empire. Many wars followed over territorial claims in the Back Sea region. This was balanced in a way by supportive collaboration against the Habsburgs and the emerging Grand Duchy of Musco…

Australian author and classical musician.
He seriously studied the piano and harpsichord in London for many years.
His piano teacher was Eileen Ralf, a former professor at the Royal Academy of Music and the inspiring teacher of the great Australian pianist Geoffrey Tozer.
His harpsichord teacher was Maria Boxall, editor of the keyboard works of the English Baroque composer and organist John Blow as well as a renowned Harpsichord Method.
He yearns for the South Pacific islands but through a number of unlikely events and coincidences beached up on the cold shores of the Baltic.